SwampThing Shockwave
2k52 - Monday, August 06, 2007, 5:44 PM --------------------------------------- Southeastern States Room Contents: Shockwave Statue of Vulcan Tungsten Processing Plant Obvious exits: South leads to Gulf of Mexico. Northeast leads to Middle Atlantic States. Northwest leads to North Central States. East leads to Northwest Atlantic. West leads to South Central States. Fly Florida You receive a radio message from Aisha Redbird: Good... after the turn of events last night I wanted to touch base with you about strategy. You send a radio message to Aisha Redbird: last nights events are still a bit bitterly fresh right now, Redtail. I'm on my way to park my ass outside the Florida border someplace and work on a way to get into the city. Southeastern States The Deep South is usually associated with plantations and the Confederacy. However, except for Florida, the southeastern states have mountains as well as beaches. In the fall, the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina blaze with reds, yellows, and browns as the leaves change color. In spring, the magnificent flora of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama comes to life, sweetening the air with the perfume of countless flowers. Here, also, are the grand Mississippi River and the flat delta plain that forms the state named for it. Tennessee, the home of Elvis Presley, ranges from the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River to the Great Smokey Mountains. Next door is Kentucky, the Bluegrass State, a coal-rich land of rolling plains and rocky hillsides. Further north, Virginia and West Virginia have towering mountain ranges like the Blue Ridge and Appalachians as well as being rich in colonial and Civil War history. Room Contents: Shockwave Statue of Vulcan Tungsten Processing Plant Obvious exits: South leads to Gulf of Mexico. Northeast leads to Middle Atlantic States. Northwest leads to North Central States. East leads to Northwest Atlantic. West leads to South Central States. Fly Florida You receive a radio message from Aisha Redbird: Mmm, they are, yes. I merely wanted to mention that I have no intention of backing out of my commitment. Regardless of what went down last night, I still believe we need to do what we can to stop the bloodshed. I intend to continue honoring the commitments I drew up with General Briar, I'm seeking out the Colonel as we speak in that regard, but I fully intend to join you down there in short order. You send a radio message to Aisha Redbird: I'll be here. Hitched a ride with this tow truck guy and am on my way to the Okefenokee. Selena Llwyll Selena is a slender, bronze skinned young woman. Currently clad in a pair of khaki pants, covered with a multitude of pockets and a white t-shirt with a vest, she presents the air of a hiker. Her hair is tightly braided, the lengthy tendrils hanging down past her knees, covered by a blue bandanna. Around her neck is a knotted cord, from it dangles a golden band with inset emeralds sparkling delicately. On her feet is a pair of well-worn hiking boots. Her usual vest is half opened, showing the white t-shirt underneath. Around her waist is a utility belt, hanging from it is a small case, a holster and a pocket knife case. She looks around with golden brown eyes, a soft smile on her face. Selena Llwyll is in the swampy borderlands 'tween Georgia and Florida, sitting pretty on a rickety old dock complete with dangling her booted feet over the water. She's even got a fishing rod and is wearing a battered old hat while she tries her luck at nabbing something on the end of that line. Selena will notice, at some point, that the are has grown extremely quiet. The birds have stopped singing. The usual hustle and bustle of various things that run around in the brush has grown still. And there's something...eerily calm about the water. Normally, there would at least be waterbugs causing ripples. Today? Still. Selena Llwyll isn't native to this far south, so she actually welcomes the nigh unusual calm, the silence save for the water's sluggish movement past the dock proper. Reaching over to a styrofoam cooler, she pulls a can of beer out, thumbs it open and takes a sip, watching the red and white bobber sitting atop the water. The bobber floats for a moment, and then drops below the surface of the water! After a moment, however, it pops back up, only to pull under a little harder, pulling the line rather forcefully. Selena Llwyll oohs, leaning forward and giving the line a quick jerk upwards. Something about the thought of fresh fish for dinner seems to sooth away her worries. The bobber pops back up when Selena pulls. All is calm for a long moment, when quite suddenly, the bobber is yanked fiercely back into the water, quite probably pulling the rod, and if she doesn't let go, Selena with it. Selena Llwyll yeeps, holding on for just a moment until she lets the rod loose, "Damn 'gators." She glowers at the water, then sighs, swinging her feet and just looking out over the swamp, sipping her beer, "Pick up a burger back at the fishcamp..." muttering. Indeed, a gator does indeed rise to the surface, it's creepy dinosaur dead scary eyes staring generally towards the dock. It floats there, bobber in it's mouth. Selena Llwyll eyes the gator for a few quiet minutes before pulling her feet up to sit cross legged on the dock, "Bigger fish elsewhere, old man. Move along." Sip of beer. Another long period of stillness, when suddenly, the gator is yanked violently under the water, which, come to mention it, has started steaming. Selena Llwyll blinks... stares at the water in a WTF sort of way.. She looks upstream, wondering about why the swamp would steam all of a sudden before she starts to get to her feet. "What the hell.. Huh.." Sipping the beer, frowning, "Well, methane pockets from the decaying plant matter can cause a rise in temperature but.. Maybe it's just mist fog. Humidity high or dew point or something." The steam only gets worse, and the water, well, is reaching what looks like a rolling boil. In face, the area has gotten a whole hell of a lot warmer in the past few minutes. And is that a low rumble? Selena Llwyll drops the beer, backing up the rickety dock slowly and cautiously, "Now this.. is not at all right.." Sweat, already having beaded on her brow, trickles down her face.. <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "Selena to EDC HQ, any reports of recent seismic activity in the area I'm in?" For those keeping score, that's definitely a rumbling. Selena can feel it at this point- the dock shaking. From deep in the water, a yellow glow pierces through the muck. Selena Llwyll continues backing up, wanting to get to the relatively stable land in these parts. She's looking rather concerned, mayhaps not for herself so much as for anyone caught in a rare seismic event such as this someplace even more rickety. "Well.. f...." Feet on actual ground, she stares at the swamp, before looking at the trees to see if she needs to get clear before any fall at her. <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "Alright, would someone *please* check for any seismic reports from the Ga Fla border area. This is a bit odd down here." The glow glows brighter, as the water breaks: a hulking, mass of purple (terrifying, I know), inhumanoid metal rises from the waters: if the woman is versed in Decepticons at all, she will surely recognize Shockwave. Steam rises from the mech's body, his cannon arm glowing purple, a wisp of plasma smoke escaping the barrel. <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "Ohkay, belay that... Figured it out.." <'EDC'> Gabriel Henshaw says, "Confirmed Dinobot sighting, Captain?" Selena Llwyll blinks, eyes widening as she takes a step back, then another and another, watching the purple metallic being rise from the swampy depths like some bad godzilla ripoff, complete with steam and streaming water (and errant plant matter to boot). "No.. definitely not an earthquake..." <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "No.. Eh.. It's purple, large, metal and has one beady yellow.. dot for a face." <'EDC'> Blaster says, "Well if that don't sound like old Shockwave I don't know what does. You in the clear ma'am, or require any assistance?" <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "Well, it's a toss up between running like hell or hoping that it ignores me." <'EDC'> Blaster says, "Well so far nothing on the Decepticon broadband, I'll let you know if that changes. Feel free to holla if he decides not to leave you alone." <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "Oh, I'll be hollering. And running like hell." Shockwave stands motionless for a moment before tossing the extremely broken gator towards the general direction of Selena. Though he hasn't spoken, and the weird eye hasn't looked directly at her, it's impossible to tell whether or not the mech is aware of her. Selena Llwyll backsteps several more meters, flinching as the broken carcass of the gator bounds and splays bits all over. She's watching the large purple being with wide eyes, poised to run like hell should it even seem to be looking at her. Shockwave remains still. Perhaps he's communing with nature? Maybe's he's just more intimidating this way? "What is your business here, human?" The mech's voice is frighteningly calm- if Selena is more used to angry yell-a-lot Decepticons, she's sorely disappointed. Selena Llwyll uuhhss... blinking... She's gone stock still, like a deer in headlights.. "Fishing and having a beer?" Gods honest truth really. "You've got.." she raises a hand and gestures, blinking, "Some... cattails.. sticking out of your.. er.. thing.. there." Shockwave finally trains his eye on the human. It glows slightly. "You are EDC." It's not a question. He lifts his cannon arm, leveling it towards Selena. "What is your true business here, human? Recreational activities on a contested border are hardly logical." The seaweed waves off of the cannon's barrel. It's like a booger someone refuses to acknowledge. Selena Llwyll ulps and raises her hands, like she's being robbed for her pocket change. "Fishing and having a beer." She repeats. "What does logic have to do with hiding?" Shockwave gestures with his cannon arm. The fact that the human has come here, to this very lake? Bad enough that this area, where Shockwave has long hidden important pieces of work has suddenly become contested, but somehow, the humans...trailing him? Impossible. He leans down, getting uncomfortably close to the human. "I am to consider this encounter a coincidence, then? Destroying you would take little energon, human. Selena Llwyll." He says her name almost as if to confirm, her likeness finally matching in his memory banks. Selena Llwyll pales, as much as her natural hue allows, eyes remaining wide as Shockwave (and his friend the swamp plant knot) leans closer. "Look.. Er.. whoever you are.." And her likeness matches nothing of much importance, she's a secretary. Had been a secretary for both the Militants and now the EDC. The penultimate paper pusher/bureaucrat. Unless you're the type to consider secretaries important. "I am just here to fish, have a few beers and drown my sorrows.. Philosophical drowning, not literal.." Voice pitched a bit high as she is sweating bullets here. "Nobody in their right mind'd head for a contested border so nobody'd come this way to bother me. And the fishing.." glances at the still steaming water, "Was good." Shockwave doesn't not move, though a nasty piece of wet leaf is probably brushing against Selena's face at this point. "Your answer is acceptable, human. However, your presence here is not." Leaf on face! The mech falls silent, back into that 'communing with nature' deal. Selena Llwyll blinks then steps back, yes, to get the wet leaf out of her face.. And to most likely make a run for it. "Er.. Can I get my cooler?" Shockwave inclines his head slightly. "If that is your wish. However, understand that there is no escaping me, human. I have not yet decided what to do with you." Selena Llwyll nods slowly, "Well, if you are going to kill me, I'd rather be falling down drunk before you do." She cautiously walks around Shockwave, heading for the dock proper to get her cooler. "How about you just let me go, I'll chalk this up to bad fish and we call it even." Shockwave regards the human for a long moment. She's telling the truth- that much is certain. And the Ops Commander has to agree with Soundwave- destroying the creature is a needless waste of energy. She knows nothing: letting her go seems the nominal path. "Very well, human. You have escaped your end for now." Selena Llwyll gets to the cooler, picks it up and starts the walk back up the dock, yes, towards Shockwave and hoping beyond home she gets past him and to the rusty truck she's using. "Death comes to us all in time." Morbid tone, dropping the cooler into the back, and getting a can of beer out. Shockwave steps out of the water, away from Selena. He lifts into the sky, several trees collapsing in his wake. A slimey chunk of seaweed and confused crawfish dislodges from his cannon, landing in the bed of Selena's truck. <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "Okay. I am not dead.. Repeat I am not dead. But for some reason this purple thing seemed a bit touchy that I was down here in the swamp." <'EDC'> Kenya Momesa says, "If you're in danger, retreat" Selena Llwyll eyes the mess after flinching.. "Hmm Crawfish..." With a nervous shrug, hands shaking enough to spill the beer out of the can, she climbs into the truck. "I need a drink.. and a vacation from my vacation.." She rests her head on the steering wheel a moment before starting the truck up and hoping that she gets out of here without any other meetings. Selena's loyal dog Dukey Spike Bandit Rover barks from the bed of the truck. Selena Llwyll wasn't aware that she'd picked up a dog but.. she ruffles the mutt and drives off. <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "departing the area with all due haste.. And with a dog." <'EDC'> Kenya Momesa says, "... a dog?" <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "It came with the truck." <'EDC'> Kenya Momesa says, "I see" <'EDC'> Selena Llwyll says, "More after I get out of the area, Momesa." <'EDC'> Kenya Momesa says, "Roger that"